Franz Anton Mesmer
1733-1815
Swiss Physician
The Swiss physician Franz Anton Mesmer was a well-known figure in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. The term mesmerized is derived from his name.
Franz Anton Mesmer was born in 1734 in the town of Iznang on the shore of Lake Constance in Switzerland. In 1766 Mesmer passed his medical examinations, completing a dissertation entitled De planetarum influxu (Physical-Medical Treatise On the Influence of the Planets), in which he first presented his theories on animal magnetism, a force which, according to him, existed between and within all bodies, and which Mesmer believed could be manipulated to cure disease.
Upon his graduation, Mesmer relocated to Vienna, where he was known as a patron of the arts, sponsoring a performance of an opera by the young Mozart in his garden. Following the lead of a local Jesuit, Father Maximillian Hell, Mesmer began to use magnets in the treatment of patients, a hallmark of his early practice and theory. He enjoyed a growing reputation among his wealthy patients, and was called in by the Elector of Bavaria to make a judgment in the case of Father Gassner, a priest who claimed he could cure disease by exorcism. In one of the few victories of his career, Mesmer stated that while the Father could cure disease, it was by the "scientific" manipulation of forces, not by casting out demons. In 1777, following this success, Mesmer was invited to consult in the caseof Maria Theresa Paradis, a musical prodigy who had gone blind as a child. While the girl seemed to regain some of her sight while under Mesmer's care, various factors, including the doubts of his colleagues regarding Mesmer's medical ability, as well as the propriety of his relationship with Miss Paradis, eventually led to the young woman being withdrawn from Mesmer's care. Within months of beginning his treatment of her, Mesmer was ordered by a government commission investigating his methods to leave the city within 48 hours.
After this, Mesmer settled in Paris in 1778, where he enjoyed a tremendous popular reputation, but also suffered considerable scorn from the medical community. He taught courses, for a fee, on his theories and methods, and it was one of his students, the Marquis de Puysegur, who actually discovered what we refer to as "hypnotism" today. In 1794 a Royal Commission issued a ruling that the practice of mesmerism or animal magnetism was a danger to the public health, and these practices were banned in France. Much of this furor, however, resulted from the perceived lack of propriety between Mesmer and his female patients.
Following this ultimate condemnation of his theories and practices, Mesmer returned to his native Switzerland. In 1799 he published a final book, his Memoire, in which he presented his theories and hopes for an utopian world. This work enjoyed some popularity among German romantic writers, and Mesmer's theories lived on in popular culture even after his death in 1815. References to mesmerism can be found throughout American and European literature well into the nineteenth century, where it was often used as a device to explore the workings of the human mind and spirit. The use of magnets in medical practice still continues today, though much of the theory underlying their use has been discredited.
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